Did you hear a loud crash about 11:15 this morning? One that sounded like my jaw hitting the floor of the Allure of the Seas (OTS)? Over 700 days on cruise ships, and I've never (!!) seen anything like this ship. All afternoon and evening we walked around looking like we were seeing the lights of the big city for the very first time, which, in a way, we were. This isn't like any cruise we've ever been on!!!
But I'm getting ahead of myself again...
Although we had received an email from Royal Caribbean advising us that embarkation today would be delayed and asking us not to arrive for check in until 12:30pm, we were in the line to go through security screening for the Allure at 9:53am. We didn't have a lot of choice; hauling around 200 pounds of big luggage, two rolling carry ons, a backpack and a beach bag kind of limit us a bit. We were through security as soon as it opened at 10am and immediately checked in (as Diamond members of Royal Caribbean's loyalty program called the Crown and Anchor Society we get some priority when in comes to boarding, but we're still behind Suite guests, Pinnacle and Diamond Plus members). I'll give Royal Caribbean (RC) their props...they have this getting 6000 passengers off this ship and then 6000 more back on down to a science. We had our embarkation photo taken (6 different photo points. 6!) and then were seated in the Diamond area to wait for boarding.
While we waited, we had a wonderful vantage point from which to people watch. I have never seen so many people so happy to be going on a cruise! We saw lots of family groups all wearing the same T-shirts, saying things like "Happy 50th Anniversary. Grandma and Grandpa" and "Charlie's 60th birthday bash". What fun!
We also had a copy of today's Compass (that's RC's daily activities guide, similar to the Princess Patter or Holland America Explorer) to study. The most prominent bit of information on it was where we could have lunch once on board...and there were a number of free and extra cost options to choose. Cabins were not going to be available until 1pm, so we were going to have to cart our carry ons with us wherever we went, and we tried to think ahead to choose a lunch venue closest to our cabin instead of on the other end of the ship.
This was the best idea we had all day.
When we walked up the gangway and onto the ship, into the three story high promenade with its bars and shops on both sides, an antique car in the middle and fountains everywhere, it felt exactly like walking into an upscale mall at home. Or a glitzy Vegas resort. It did NOT feel like we were walking onto a ship. And that's when it first became obvious that the Allure is a ship only because it gets from point A to point B by floating. In all other ways it's a resort, or an adventure park, or a mall, or a park, or a spa...depending on which part of the ship we're in.
We felt instantly and completely overwhelmed. Luckily, we headed right up to the Solarium, the beautiful two-story glass enclosed area on the top of the ship at the front, containing two big hot tubs, two huge hot tubs cantilevered over the sides of the ship, a pool, hundreds of loungers and- what we were looking for- the Solarium Cafe, open for lunch. There were lots of light and healthy options to choose from, but my very favorite was the "enhanced water"- zero calorie, no caffeine, not too sweet flavored waters. And large plastic cups. I didn't mention this when we were on the Nieuw Amsterdam, but I was thirsty the entire week. Cups in the buffet were glass, and the size of juice glasses to boot. Get a little crushed ice in them and there was no room for water. On the Allure, there are nice-sized plastic cups, and plain water or two flavors of enhanced water to choose from (and, of course, iced tea, juices, etc.). But I'm a happy camper.
We stayed in the Solarium until 1pm, when our cabin was ready. For this week, we have a large inside cabin on Deck 12, right under the babies play area (there are probably two babies on the ship this week) which we thought was a good combination of high on the ship but fairly quiet. Our first surprise? Our cabin door opens OUT, into the corridor. How cool is that? It's just that much less congestion in the cabin. And, about the cabin, it's nicely sized with a love seat and table, and plenty of storage and room for our suitcases that our balcony cabin lacked on the Nieuw Amsterdam. It feels unfamiliar to us, of course, and we're still struggling a bit to figure out the best place for everything (the biggest issue: no drawers in the weird, modern nightstands), but we definitely don't feel crowded.
The bathroom, however, is a different story. The tiny, football-shaped sink, narrow vanity (maybe 8" wide) and awkward storage shelves have us putting the plastic bins we use in our shower on Princess on the mirror instead...which is fine, because they won't stick to the shower wall. Speaking of the shower, the little bar in the corner for leg shaving is nicely placed, and all that is required to do the job (Princess, with the shelves in the Royal Princess showers that prevent the shower curtain from staying closed, take note). An although the shower has a bit of a "space capsule" feel (G said he was looking for the pay phone in there), I always prefer a shower door to a shower curtain. It just feels cleaner.
So, enough about the shower. We were pleased to see a Crown and Anchor Welcome Aboard gift package with snacks, a water bottle for me and a Coke for G. (I later joked that RC provides the bag of granola mix to sustain us for a week, because the food is so crap, but I'm getting ahead of myself).
Our luggage was quickly delivered, and, once unpacked, we set out to explore the ship. Holy cow...on the upper decks, the pools and hot tubs just keep coming and coming. And big hot tubs too- huge ones holding upwards of 20 people each. G was in hot tub heaven. And large pools, some freshwater, some saltwater (better for my skin), one with a current, one with a beach entry, one a water park for the kids. But at the back of the ship we found the Allure's claims to fame: two 50-feet rock climbing walls, and two flow rider pools (one for boogie boarding, one for surfing). And the traditional putt putt golf course (amazing on a ship 12 years ago, but now, not so much). Oh, and a full sports court with every boy on the ship between 8 and 18 shooting hoops. Yes, that back end of the ship is Kid Central.
We watched the Nieuw Amsterdam sail away (a different world to us by then), the the Eurodam and finally the Royal Princess, until we were chased in to attend the muster drill (on the completely opposite end of the ship towards the bottom, so it was a 10 minute walk). Very civilized- no standing on deck, no life jackets (on the Allure they're kept at the muster stations instead of in cabin)- but I told G that if anything happened on this ship, we'd all be goners, and all the muster drills in the world wouldn't likely help. How in the world could over 8500 people (passengers and crew) be quickly evacuated? I'll just say my prayers at night and hope for the best.
Following muster, we went to the Viking Crown Lounge (the equivalent of Skywalkers on the Emerald Princess, up high with lots of views) for sail away, and then dressed for the evening and headed down to Blaze lounge for our favorite Diamond perk on any RC ship: a 3.5 hour open bar cocktail party EVERY evening. With hot and cold hor doerves and lots of new BFFs, we stayed there until it was time for our scheduled entertainment of the evening. Ana, the Diamond concierge, announced that there were (roughly) 325 Diamond members on board this sailing, 125 Diamond Plus and 2 Pinnacle Club members (which is, like, a zillion days on RC). As I mentioned before, this is only our 7th RC cruise, but, with about 150 days on Celebrity Cruises, we're Elite in their loyalty program. Because Celebrity is owned by RC, the highest level attained on any of their cruise lines is honored by each one. This is a fine policy, and encourages us to "cruise around" a bit.
With no dinner, but with four drinks and hors doerves in us, we stumbled...er, walked to the back of the ship to the Boardwalk neighborhood for our first entertainment on the cruise, water and diving show OceanAria.
Words simply won't do this entire experience justice. First, the Boardwalk itself, with a working carousel, has the vibe of a Coney Island or Atlantic City type boardwalk, and is beautifully lit at night. In fact, we were shocked by how pretty it was at night. OceanAria takes place in the open air Aqua Theater at the very back of the ship, and features an 18' pool with a bottom that raises and lowers, a trampoline that revolves out of the stage floor, and diving platforms, two at about 25' high and two at about 50' high. We knew we were in for a treat.
It was a beautiful night and the moon was right overhead as the show started at 9pm. About 10 minutes in to it, after we'd already seen several exotic dives, some trampoline acrobatics and some arial performers and water sprays, G turned to me and said, "Where has this been all our lives?" No, we're not in Kansas anymore.
But we were hungry. After the show we (amazingly, astonishingly) saw Debbie and Mike, whom we'd met and had a meal with on the Royal Princess two weeks ago. They had stayed on the Royal last week (interesting experience, that) while we went to the Nieuw Amsterdam. We knew they were going to be on the Allure this week and had laughed..."wouldn't it be funny if we run into each other on a ship with nearly 6000 passengers?" First night...there they were. They joined us for two slices of pizza at Sorrentos on the Royal Promenade, and then we called it a night.
Embarkation days, even when our traveling has been limited to a few hundred feet from another ship, wear us out.
Photos 1- 3: our large inside cabin on the Allure OTS
Photo 4: our Welcome Back snack
Photo 5: one of the two flow rider pools